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Beginning next fall, new freshmen at Christopher Newport University will pay a guaranteed tuition rate – the Captains Commitment – that provides tuition certainty and encourages on-time graduation.
Christopher Newport will be the first public university in Virginia to guarantee the cost of both tuition and the comprehensive fee. The average annual increase for students will be 2.5 percent each year. In the first year, tuition and fees for Virginia students will increase by 6.7 percent ($990). Over the following three years, tuition and fees will increase by only 1 percent, or approximately $160 each year.
The Captains Commitment includes additional financial aid that will offset the increases for those who are most in need.
The Captains Commitment was adopted today by the Board of Visitors, after it was first given a vote of support in October by the Executive Committee of the board. “The response from parents and students has been overwhelmingly positive since we first announced this plan,” says Board of Visitors Rector and Newport News attorney Bobby Hatten. “Families deserve financial certainty so they can plan and provide for higher education. The General Assembly has also strongly encouraged us to limit increases to less than 3 percent per year and the Captains Commitment accomplishes that worthy goal.”
Out-of-state students will also be covered by the Captains Commitment, with their tuition and comprehensive fee locked in for four years at the same percentage rate increase as that for in-state students. In addition, students save both time and money by graduating in four years. The tuition and comprehensive fee in a fifth year will increase from 1 percent to an average of 4.9 percent, as specified in the university’s six-year plan.
Current students and transfer students may choose to participate in the guaranteed tuition and fee program or continue to pay the 4.9 percent annual increase in tuition and fees provided by the six-year plan.
“We deeply appreciate the work of the Board in providing families the stability they need to thoughtfully make financial decisions,” says Christopher Newport President Paul Trible. “We’re also especially grateful for the board’s concern with affordability so that we can continue to make a superb education available to all.”
Trible said Christopher Newport will endeavor to curtail future increases for continuing students if state support increases.